Marill Re-Reads "Cause & Effect"

Many years ago Marill sat through an episode or two of Charmed, hated it and decided to take the piss the only way she knew how. Cause & Effect was born.

That's all there is to this episode's existance, really. However I'm strangely looking forward to it. I know it'll probably not score well, not terribly either. Still I remember it being quite a ride. It also unintentionally adds a re-occuring guest star who's a pain to write, but I wouldn't have it any other way haha.

NOTE: Before I begin, I started a fresh new counter, which like the Badass and Sins counters before it will need some retroactive counting down. Also like the former, I can only do Season Two for the time being. An overall total of everything will be posted at the end. There a lot of examples in Season One, I joked about making this counter a lot after all. I should've done it, less work for me now. For now, here's the S2 version of the new counter, pretty much counted from memory (for now! If I find more, I'll amend also at the end of the season). If the episode isn't listed, they didn't have any that I remember.

Disconnected (2), The Resurrection (2), True Q (10), Halloween (1) and finally the counter starter Curse of Voyager (6).

J/C are the worst (grand)parents ever: 21

Again that's only Season Two SO FAR. Peter Taylor has his work cut out for him.

Speaking of which, he's in the guest star list. Oh joy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was another Saturday night. A holographic audience were cheering incredibly loudly as Tom & Harry were standing on the stage.

"Once again, it's PokéBall!" Harry yelled,

If you didn't understand why I hated the band stuff, and still don't, then I don't know what to say to you. Bored, skipping. You know the routine by now.

The disco lights came on, as the other lights went off.

Meanwhile, in the other Holodeck:
Annika was sitting on her own, in the white room. She was watching a TV that the Doctor had brought in for her.

omg the routine's been broken

Lol, the Doc's got therapy the wrong way around. This isn't the way to cure her of her MC stealing jealousy

"Dolly? I'm not a dolly. That's an insult to my three little sisters that nobody knew about until now. Damn writers," Annika growled.

bwahahahaha, continuity, what's that?????????

Three young sisters, with a few Borg (and probably other kind of in the oldest sisters case) Implants were sitting at a table in a McDonalds.

"Wow, I didn't like know that there like McDonalds in the Delta like Quadrant," the youngest said.

Should I mark it, she's meant to be a Seven sister? hmmmm....torn

Anyways lets introduce them in the order the episode does. First up, Juna. She likes things a lot, like.

The middle sister picked up a huge burger, she ate it whole.

Meet erm... the one that's supposed to be played by one of the Steps members. I used to make big mouth jokes. I may have been bitter... wait *scrolls up and checks written date* okay, the Steps split isn't for another month. I just had a weird dislike of her for no reason at the time.

Yeah her gimmick doesn't get better

"This is so illogical," the oldest muttered. The other two girls stared at her.

"Er... wrong show, Tersa," the middle sister said. The oldest girl's Vulcan like expression disappeared, and a big huge Jeri Ryan like grin appeared. She chucked off a dark brown wig to reveal shiny blonde hair.

The guest list sorta spoiled it, but yes the third sister is played by the woman who plays T'Pol. Why? Cos catsuits, and sullen/emotionless characters. That was before I watched Enterprise and made T'Pol my favourite. She's how Seven should've been done, damn it!

I guess I still didn't have any reason to make fun of her, so... yeah, opposite to a Vulcan is her gimmick. And yeh I forgot her name too

Oh and she also eats Big Macs whole? I guess it's a family thing. I used to make fun of Seven that way too.

"Chain Reaction, I think I'll sing to it," the middle sister said. She did just that, she sang to Claire's bits. Everyone covered their ears.

But... but... what?

"I forgot to mention, the people here have very sensitive hearing. Loud, and sometimes deep voices can seriously damage their ears. That's why people with big gobs don't sing here," Tersa replied.

OHHHH???

whut?

"How many times have I told you, quit saying like all the time," Tersa moaned.

"Like sorry," Juna muttered.

snigger

end of episode spoilers; yeh I bet you can't tell which one sticks around after this episode.

The setting was normal, people were eating some disgusting concoction that Neelix cooked, plus there were only three main characters in the room.

WHAT. ONLY THREE, THAT'S NOT NORMAL

I OBJECT TO EVERYTHING

except the actually not bad beginning of a scene. Um. Yeah, start here or in the previous scene and *thumbs up*

"According to the Doc, Annika's fit to be released in a few weeks," Lena said.

*snip*

"I can finally have some fun again. Remember the good old days where I used to kill her all the time," Lena replied.

I laughed, but oh dear

"And we can be inspired to write more Annika hate songs, our last one was a bomb. Everyone loved it," Lena said.

Don't you mean it bombed?

"So how's it going with you and Craig?" James asked.

OH, I DON'T CARE

"But the Doc told me that you two are, you know, together," James said.

"What! He told you that!" Lena yelled, a little too loudly.

"Yeah, he said he saw you two, er, kissing," James said.

Good lord, the Doc gets around. Tom must be envious. I bet he was there for J/C's as well

"Er... is it true, or not?" James asked quietly.

Ok ok, trust James to not notice a denialy answer when he hears one.

Lena looked around, and she walked over to James. She leaned on the table, and got closer to him.

*everyone stares, Doc slides in* oh gross Doc!

anyways, were you thrilled, disgusted, annoyed or just meh about the whole Lena/Craig thing in the last one. GOOD NEWS EVERYONE

"My mum told me to get a boyfriend, so I did. I told Craig that I had a crush on him, even though I don't. I thought if I went out with Craig, it would really annoy my mother," Lena replied.

yes, yes this is happening

"It would annoy any mother.

James mutters before complaining about personal space. I lolled for real

"People are looking at us," James replied. Lena looked around slightly. She cringed slightly.

"You lot are a load of perverts!" she yelled as she stood back up.

YEAH, AND I'M NOT THE ONLY ONE WITH THE PROBLEM, TELL THEM CAIM

CHEERS

"I thought you were friends with him. What kind of a friend would use him like that?" James asked.

JAMES NO LONGER BADASSES OFF SCREEN FOR OUR SINS. WE SEE EM' ALL BABY

THANKS FOR SAYING IT FOR ME, *HIGH FIVE*

"Listen you! He tried to trick me into going out with him in the last episode, remember! And you're telling me that I'm wrong for doing this!" Lena yelled and she stormed out.

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeellllll

She's got a point, but it doesn't excuse what she's doing. They both deserve each other at this point, me thinks

Everyone watched her leave, and then they stared at James.

"Haven't you got anything better to do?" he asked. Everyone shook their heads. James rolled his eyes, and he walked out leaving the unknown crewmembers to stare at the wall instead.

haha, nice one

Kathryn and Chakotay were sitting on the sofa near the window. Kathryn had a cup of coffee in her hands, and Chakotay had a cup of tea.

DIVORCE HIM, OMG THE TREACHERY

"According to some nameless ensigns in the Mess Hall, she was yelling, almost screaming, at James," Chakotay said.

Well at least it wasn't Kiara this time

"So? He was probably just acting like an idiot as he usually does. I'd yell at him too," Kathryn said.

oh Janeway. Next episode is it?

"First she dyes her hair purple, and make it look a mess, then she gets a boyfriend. What's next?" Kathryn said.

I'd mark them, but this seems normal to me

"You haven't heard? She's been behaving badly in the Doctor's classes, sometimes she turns up late. I wasn't going to tell you this but she's been mouthing off at me a couple of times. She's getting one hell of a temper. Kathryn, this all started after the Q incident two months ago," Chakotay replied.

just in case you haven't noticed, here's Chakotay with the Lena recap.

"I'm only looking out for her well being. I think we should get involved more," Chakotay said.

"She's seventeen, it's a little late now," Kathryn said.

JANEWAY WHUT

J/C are the worst (grand)parents ever: 1

AT LEAST CHAKOTAY'S TRYING

Meanwhile on the Dellia Sue5

"I'm perfectly sane, I'm an angel," Emma said. The entire Bridge crew tried not to laugh.

Remember my comment in Halloween? No? um... yes? See, this is Emma's joke, not Lena's.

"One ship in your fleet is nothing like the other two. Explain," the man said.

"Er... that ship's not part of our fleet," Lilly muttered.

"I would like to speak to that ship's Captain," the man said.

BWAHAHAHA DENIED

Lilly: I used to be the bigshot, what happened?

Firera: beats me

"Greetings, I am Adid, and this is my assistant, Leve," the man said.

well that Z5 intermission was a waste of time. I'm guessing you're used to it now

"Very well then. Lets get down to business. I am here because we're looking for the people who attacked one of the planets in our sector," Adid said.

*snip*

"Contact us if you hear anything about this attack. I strongly advice that you stay away from the planet," Adid said. The viewscreen went off.

"Well you know the drill, Tom, Tuvok," Kathryn said and she headed straight towards her chair.

"Yes ma'am, setting a course for the planet," Tom said.

Well at least we're being honest about this stuff now.

"Sometimes I wonder why we're always shocked when something happens in these episodes," Harry muttered.

That is quite a puzzle, Harry

"Captain, according to the sensors, a colony is on the northern continent, but it's been destroyed," Tuvok said.

"By who?" Kathryn asked.

"The weapons signature is unfamiliar," Tuvok replied.

I'm taking bets. Who did this? Tolg, Species 8472, the Upendi villains, Annika (HANG HER), the Big Macs, James accidentally going off screen with a nuke (jesus, how do I add that to the kill count??). My money's on Harry. That earlier line was ominous, the gorry body fest in the previous one only made his blood lust worse

anyways there's three survivors, and the odds are pretty pathetic on who they are so I won't bother

"Hey like, thanks for rescuing us, like," Juna said.

"God, that girl's got problems," James muttered.

NO I'M NOT DOING A LIKE COUNT

Some trivia for you: As you can imagine Juna was very difficult to write. It got to the point where I wrote her dialogue like free (unless there was meant to be one), then inserted a few randomly into her sentences, wherever.

"You've got to excuse my younger sister, she had a few posh Borg friends in the Resistance," Tersa said.

I don't remember Simon being a posh... oh the Borg Resistance, my bad

"Our Borg Sphere crashed outside the colony. We've been here for two weeks," Tersa replied.

Oh shoot, I thought the Borg with a new weapon but I thought that was too silly. It has to be the Upendi villains, it makes more sense

"Yeah like, it's been like so terrifying here, isn't that right, Derna," Juna said as she looked over at Derna. She rolled her eyes. Derna looked brainwashed. She headed over to James.

Once again, no bets allowed for this pretty obvious moment. YOU KNOW THE ROUTINE, EVASIVE MANUEVERS

"Hi there, I'm Derna, and I want to be your girlfriend," she said. Tersa walked over to her, she took a hold of Derna's ear and she pulled her away.

"Not today Juliet," Tersa muttered. Juna looked nervous as she watched her two sisters.

"That's all I need, another Tani," James muttered.

Hahaha, do you remember the "good old" days when James used to whimper and hide behind Jessie?

"We were like at our crash site, we were like looking for something," Juna said. She looked at her two sisters, and she groaned. Derna was staring at James, and Tersa was staring at Craig!

CRAIG??

I love how that one warrants an explanation mark. I'm surprised the James one wasn't completely lowercase to show how mundane it is nowadays

"Oh great those two are the female versions of Brock from Pokémon," Tom said.

THANKS TOM, I DIDN'T GET IT

"Er... my name's Craig, Tersa," Craig said.

"Did you hear that sisters? His last name is the same as my first name," Tersa said as she daydreamed.

Where have I heard this one before?

Tom: wel....

I KNOW!!

"Captain, we've detected a Borg Ship belonging to the Resistance, just in case our guests want to go back to the Resistance," Harry said. Kathryn turned to the three sisters.

"If you don't want to go back to the Resistance, you can stay aboard Voyager," Kathryn said.

Sometimes I do like to go back to Resistance. A good old half good episode. I miss them

"Ohno," James and Craig muttered.

oh I see, so now that Craig's attached, him being pestered by a crush struck woman is suddenly annoying to him, not the best thing ever. I see how it is

"You're not going to believe this, Captain, but these three women are sisters of Annika's," the Doctor said.

LIKE OMG

"Captain, she never said she was. We just thought she was. Her sisters were on the Raven, they were just not mentioned," the Doctor said.

and I'm sure they were only hiding out of camera shot (WTF, IS JAMES RELATED TO THEM TOO), and their parents kept forgetting their names. sure, I buy it

"So? Mum had just gotten pregnant with Juna when we were all assimilated. Derna was only a few week old baby, and I was about two years old," Tersa said.

"My point was that she should have known about her sisters, so why didn't she tell us about them?" Kathryn asked.

"In original Voyager, Annika wasn't suppose to have any sisters, this was just decided by the writer," the Doctor replied.

Oh okay, then that's totally legit then

of course I mean the second explanation, what else

Anyway it's time for a family reunion

"Attractive women, they'll steal my show, kill them," Annika said, as she backed up against the wall.

Janeway/B'Elanna:

EXPOSITION TIME

Lena: *happy gasp?*

Janeway: gtfo out of here, you're too old!

"In the beginning there were only there main female characters, Annika was the most attractive one, in the producers point of view so she became the main star. Then Fifth Voyager started, and more female main characters joined. Annika obviously thought that they were going to take her part, since most of the female actors were heard of, and loved too. So she attacked most of them," the Doctor replied.

Oh I love fourth wall explanations when there's a perfectly reasonable in-series one that could be used

"Two months, but she's making great progress. Few more weeks is all she needs. Well I'd better leave you to get re-acquainted," the Doctor replied. He walked out.

I beg your pardon? The time between Saturday Night and Cause & Effect is only two months????????

Season Two's really weird(er) with its based on dates.

"The Resistance released us from the hive. Since then we've proved valuable to them," Derna replied.

"How so?" Annika asked.

"Watch and see," Tersa replied. She pointed her hand towards the door, suddenly it opened and then shut on it's own.

Lena: SERIOUSLY!?!

"We're witches," Derna replied.

"Since when?" Annika asked.

"We found out after we were released from the hive. All four of us are the Charmed sisters," Derna replied.

wow there's no sublety here. What am I saying, there never is

"I like can freeze time, it's so like cool," Juna said.

"I experience hallucinations of the past and present," Derna said.

"And I can move objects with my mind," Tersa said.

"And what can I do?" Annika asked.

DIE HILARIOUSLY

speaking of which, we're overdue so get cracking

"Yeah, I don't like that Lena either. Isn't she the one who's going out with that cute guy?" Derna asked.

"No, if my Fifth Voyager knowledge is correct you mean Jessie.

If my FV knowledge is correct?

Um. huh?

1) I'd accept that Annika instantly knows she means James with "cute guy" cos of all his admirers over the two seasons, IF she didn't get locked up before his get together with Jessie

2) IF her knowledge is correct? The nut house has broken her

The ship shook violently for a few seconds.

The Bridge:
"Report," Kathryn said as she emerged out of her Ready Room.

"I don't know Captain, sensors are not picking up anything out of the ordinary," Harry replied.

I assume the ship's used to being shook around, so it would say that

They shrug it off and continue on

Deck Four:
Derna was walking down the corridor minding her own business. She heard footsteps coming up behind her. She slowly turned around to see who it was.

"I was wondering when you'd be coming," she said.

"Your worst fear, is you without a voice. Correct?" the man in front of her asked.

What, I figured it'd be no Big Macs

"I know your routine, and there's no way you can take away my voice," Derna said.

um, spoilers for the episode I guess, if she knows his "routine", why is she so sure he can't?

She tried to say something but nothing came out. She panicked. The man smiled evilly, he extended his arms in front of him.

"Give me your fear!" he shouted overdramatically.

x100

Now, I'm the first (okay second) to rip on FV, but I have to come to its defense here. Or mine rather. This is meant to be corny. I'm not sure if it was a line ripped off from its inspiration, or merely "inspired by". And no, Halloween doesn't have the same excuse for its corny dialogue. That's probably the most original an episode has been in AGES

"I'd hate to run into all four of them in a dark alley," Naomi said.

"I'd hate to run into all four of them, full stop," Kiara said.

Something's wrong with my copy of this, has it been edited down? I'm positive Bryan follows this with "I'd hate to run into... their droppings!"

Derna was still lying on the ground, her hair had turned white.

Kiara and Naomi knelt down. Naomi checked Derna's pulse.

"She's dead," Naomi said.

dundundu*yawn*dun

"This is impossible. According to these scans she died of a heart attack, but she was perfectly healthy before hand," the Doctor replied. He continued scanning her.

"Maybe it was like those Big Macs," Juna said. Tersa rolled her eyes.

This is what I expect my post mortum dialogue to be.

That or "what the hell is that, it's stinking up my scrap heap."

"According to the tricorder, she was scared to death," the Doctor replied.

"I didn't like think heart attacks were like caused by fear," Juna said.

"It happened in The Thaw," the Doctor said.

The what? The musical episode, um the time loop one? I'm so confused

"Just an original episode, and was a Before Fifth Voyager episode. Long story," the Doctor said.

IT WAS? what was I going to do with it? Chuck the newbies into the main plot with the same lines, that's what! (easy guess)

"I wonder like how she was scared to like death," Juna said.

"We may never find out," Tersa muttered.

Hi, you're obviously new here

James stepped out of the turbolift. On his own, nobody else around, you get the idea that something's going to happen. Oh well, here we go.

then he walked off screen and solved the episode, the end.

James went into the Mess Hall, he stopped at the doorway. Nobody was in the room, it was dark and quiet. He walked in further, and the door closed behind him. He headed over to the kitchen, even Neelix wasn't there.

HURRAY!

I mean, ooh creepy

"Who the hell are you?" he asked the person who came in. He was none other than Adid.

Well I'm shocked, shocked.

"You're worst fear is

bwahahahaha

Yes, James is the worst fear. At least according to most of the crew... and his victims, if they were alive

Anyway fixed so lets try again

"Your worst fear is, er, there's too many too choose from. Hmm, the dark, heights. You don't like the sight of blood. Ghosts, that sounds interesting," Adid muttered.

Ohnoes, Jessie's tied to him again and is confusing his readings. Guys, keep that in private in your own quarters

I'm assuming this was written before the list was added to in the prequels. yupyup, shame

"With you I can have more fun, lets see..." Adid said, he started thinking quietly.

Wait, that's it? Rapey women are not on his list? Amazing

"Aren't you that guy on that ship we came into contact with a few hours ago?" James asked. Adid didn't hear him, he was too busy thinking of evil things to do, most likely. "How come you're on Voyager?"

Corny Bad Guy #10: Excuse me, I'm trying to act villanous here. Stop trying to be sensible, stand still gormlessly while I tell the readers how evil I am

James: *eyes kill count* how many counts have I got? I knew I was forgetting one

"You talk to much, human. I think it's time to play," Adid said.

What, that was what he was thinking

He waved his hand towards the ceiling and the lights went out. "All sissy's like you, hate the dark, but not enough," Adid said.

Yes I know I've whinged about this plenty, and joked about it. Now that the episodes themselves are taking the pee out of this still growing list of phobias James has, I've got to weigh in a little more seriously here. It doesn't annoy me because he's now the Slayer, and must be tough, not scared of the dark *bops about a bit, humming* oh sorry, where was I?

No. His most hilarious phobia is yet to come, it's not that.

I remembered reading a while back a list of Mary Sue traits. Sure, everyone differs on what it really means. For me Mary Sue's (or Gary Stu's) tend to have no character flaws and can do pretty much everything perfectly. Lena got this in spades sometimes, hence the jokes. She also got being the self insert at times.

Anyway blabbing, one of the definitions I kept seeing everywhere was; "the only flaws the Sue has are things like phobias, something not in their control." A phobia of spiders for example doesn't tell a reader anything other than that, and normally wouldn't influence whether they're liked or not. They've got a flaw but not one that matters.

Yeah, Lena looks like she was given the death phobia to balance out her super duperness. Season Two developed James a lot, but despite most of my jokes now and then, his only Sue trait seems to be being attractive to every single woman and man around.

I mean think about it.

Morgan/Lena discovers she has telepathy/kenesis, which the latter she can control with ease and skill with no practice. It's used and mentioned a lot. Meanwhile James gets upgraded to Slayer, something even he keeps forgetting about. No one cares.

Despite how many times Morgan mucks up, it's not considered her fault and/or she is praised anyway for solving the problem of the week. When James doesn't solve a situation perfectly or does something wrong, he's hated, punished (and yes minorly but compared to Lena, yikes), people generally don't like or trust him. Janeway's earlier idiot brush off comes to mind. Which brings me to point 3...

Lena has killed Seven/Annika a couple of times for laughs, she murdered Makeup Face. She's acted quite homicidal. James killed someone who stabbed his pregnant ex in the back, the majority of his violence has been retribution or necessary. Which character is considered the sweet perfect angel, and which is considered the monster?

Everytime James does something that is better than Lena could, he quickly has a scene to regress him, or just basically humiliate and put him back in his not as good as Lena place. I've pointed this out throughout, cos I'm not sure if it's just me that notices it.

On a similar note to the last one and the first, The Slayers comes to mind the most in this comparison, and the example I have is related to the phobias. One of the Slayers "must" not be able to swim, so you'd expect it to be the girl who lived her whole life on a spaceship, in both her fake memories and what really happened. Not the guy who lived on Earth, went to school, had a normalish childhood. Nah, that'd be dumb. But seriously, that James not knowing how to swim (which is unfortunately canon, but I've since used to my advantage unlike the others) but Lena could, AND she berates him for it still bothers me. BUT ANYWAY

Okay, there's more but I hope you get the idea. James may be in the series a lot, but for me he sometimes feels like the anti-Sue. Comparing him to some of Morgan/Lena's stuff of late convinces me further. He has flaws, character flaws aplenty, so what's with the fear phobia abuse? He doesn't need them to make him seem imperfect, he's human enough.

You know what this really is, don't you? I wasn't concerned that James was "perfect" so gave him these new flaws just in case. I was concerned that people would prefer him over Lena. So much has been done to make him weaker than her, despite evidence of him being at least equal to her, sometimes better. CAN'T HAVE THAT

It'll be a long time before the series tones them down. We've still got more to go, so buckle up.

James instantly wigs when the lights go out, but Fear Man isn't done with him. No, he decides to do something that isn't on the list.

The silence in the room was quickly blocked out by the sound of Sbaracs scuttling around the ground. A strange ghostly wind blew around the room. Voices were carried across the wind, they were whispering so quietly that they couldn't be heard very easily.

Yeah. Lets add bugs to the list. I mean who wouldn't be scared of flesh eating bugs, amirite?

I almost liked the last description. It's missing a word or two.

Jessie came into a busy Mess Hall. Confused? You should be.

Please stop with this kinda narrative.... BUT DON'T BRING BACK THE WRITERS PLEASE

A crowd of people had gathered around a certain area of the room, Jessie pushed her way past the most of them.

"What happened?" she asked Neelix.

"He came in acting strangely, then he collapsed," Neelix replied.

Well this brings up an interesting spin on this story, no sarcasm...yet

Jessie pushed past more people, and she knelt down beside James. Somebody was checking his pulse.

"Oh god, he's dead," the person said. Neelix tapped his commbadge.

James Dies Count: 1

So lemme get this straight, now that the scene is done. James walked into the Mess Hall, talked to himself, then complained about the Shining ripoff blood river, asked why the Mess Hall was suddenly suspended over a 20 foot bridge. Then he screamed, hair turned white and dropped to the floor. All of this, in front of a room full of people.

Remember this later

For now, I dig that image. lawl

"Like Derna, he died of a heart attack," the Doctor said.

"Can't you revive him?" Jessie asked.

Wow, you can almost feel Jessie's grief in those...pfftsnigger. Fortunately for my sarcasm machine, I couldn't finish that. I can't afford to lose anymore

"Conveniently for the plot I can't revive any of the heart attack victims until later," the Doctor replied.

He probably started harvesting Big Mac gal the second the time of death was announced, so yeah, "conveniently for the plot". Yeah right, Doc!

Voyager shakes again, and I consider sharing my nervous pills with it. I sympathise, poor baby

"Torres to Janeway. Captain, Adid is here," B'Elanna said.

In: "Adid? How did he get on the ship?"

you mean that nice guy who warned us away from the Annika sisters? so?

Adid headed over to the warp core. Security arrived. Adid pushed them into the wall, hard. Then he continued towards the warp core. He placed his hands on it. The core glowed an angry red colour. Consoles started exploding, and fire's started.

In: "Bridge to Torres. What's going on? We're reading a core breach!"

"Adid, he's doing something to the core," B'Elanna replied. She worked furiously at the console. "I can't eject the core," she said.

Voyager: I swear to god, these shakes are happening for a reason. I'm not constantly scared all the time.

Ship GP: shut up and take your pills. next!

Voyager: *core breaches*

Ship GP: pfft faker, always scamming for pills *writes prescription*

The entire Dellia crew watched in horror as Voyager exploded.

THE END, now time for the adventures of Lilly and her crew of kiddies trekking across the law...

The Bridge:
"Report," Kathryn said as she emerged out of her Ready Room.

"I don't know Captain, sensors are not picking up anything out of the ordinary," Harry replied.

I assume the ship's used to being shook around, so it would say that

They shrug it off and continue on

The Hansen's Quarters:
"Will somebody mind explaining to me what just happened?" Tersa asked.

waitaminute

Oh yes, it's one of THOSE episodes.

Yes it's a Charmed parody/rip off, but it's also Voyager's Cause & Effect. It's not like the title gave that away or anything.

"It's simple. When I left these quarters originally, I had an hallucination. Adid boarded the ship, and he was using his powers to destroy Voyager. I used my powers to create a timeloop, just in case we failed to stop him the first time," Derna replied.

Um. So the first victim to the Fear Alien was the witch who gets visions of the future, and so knew this would happen, SO she did this time loop spell. She knew and prepared, fine, but why wander around on your own, knowing you'd run into him and not even try to stop him? She didn't even tell her sisters till now. I call bull

"No it doesn't, how did you cause a timeloop?" Tersa asked.

"With a lot of technobabble, and my abilities to see into the past and future," Derna replied.

This kinda character is considered broken. How the hell did she die first? James died second I know, but that's one of his talents

WAIT, HE DIED OFF SCREEN

I TAKE IT BACK, THE VILLAIN IS MORE OP THAN TIME LOOP GIRL. WE'RE DOOMED

"I didn't get a chance, Adid attacked me," Derna replied.

Nah, still calling bull

"Hmm, he seems to be able to extract powers from witches. That must of been how he was able to overload the warp core," Tersa said.

"So er, like why did he attack like that James guy?" Juna asked.

AHHA, I was about to complain that cos these sisters don't seem to know the full range of this villain's powers, they can't just assume they know what he's doing during the attacks. Then Like Girl to the rescue, bwahha, take that expositioner

but seriously. I actually quite like this episode, it can be a little clever at times despite its tiny mistakes. Lets hope I don't take those words back

Anyways, the sisters worry that the timeloop will mean that James'll walk into his death again, and we all know that's likely even without it.

"I'll just see what happens if I leave this room, instead of Derna. I don't have any fears, so he can't kill me," Tersa replied and she walked out.

AH, is this the real reason why Lena and James have had phobia darts thrown at them to see if they stick, but James takes up more room so gets hit more. So we can't Sue this alien to death. I hear ya.

Of course Tersa is no Sue

Tersa walked into Adid. She groaned, and she walked around him. Adid took a hold of her arm and pulled her back.

"Look, I have no fear of anything, so there's no point in trying to scare me," Tersa said.

"That's where you're wrong. I can sense a fear, buried deep inside. You have a fear for raging fires," Adid said.

or maybe she is. A fear of fire seems pretty normal to me

He waved his hand around him. A raging fire appeared, and it took over the entire corridor except where he and Tersa were standing.

"I'm not afraid of a meek little fire," Tersa said in a nervous voice.

Cheater, so even a Sue isn't immune. He can do this to literally anyone but Sid

James stepped off the turbolift. He stopped at the door, and he just stared at the Mess Hall doors.

He thought, "this seems awfully familiar."

James: Why is my Dies counter 1 higher than it was a few minutes ago?

Instead of going into the Mess Hall, he went back into the turbolift.

"Deck Five," he said. The turbolift went into motion.

This kinda brings up a question I dunno if it's answered in this one.

Derna obviously remembers, she made the loop. Her two sisters remember before they knew about it. So you think, hmm witches are probably the only ones aware. Adid pretty much walks into Tersa's lack of a trap, then we assume he goes after James for an easy power top up. So he either doesn't remember or he's playing along. Which is it?

Then we have James having deja vu. Hmmmmm

Suddenly it came to a halt. The doors opened, and Adid stepped in. The doors closed again.

Ok maybe the latter with this, that lift can't be still on Deck Two. Was he waiting on Three, Four?

"You look familiar, who are you?" James asked.

"I don't see how, now I must say this is the perfect place," Adid replied as he looked around the turbolift.

Ok, still could be playing along... but why? That just brings me back to the question I still haven't asked. What is the criteria for remembering the past loops?

"You have many fears, but I guess this is the perfect place to emphasise one," Adid replied.

"What are you talking about?" James asked.

Watch out, he's going to start groping you any minute, garbage him!

Adid ignored him, and he raised his arms into the air. He slowly brought his hands together. The walls of the turbolift started to move in.

"I love doing this to claustrophobics," Adid muttered to himself.

"I'm not claustrophobic," James said.

Fear Alien: haha good one you big wuss

"You are, you just don't know it yet," Adid said evilly.

Objection! While I'm okay with this phobia for James as there's a good reason for it, and the not knowing it yet idea I actually pretty like, but there's been plenty of times before this for the phobia to kick in enough so he'd notice. He's been in jeffries tubes, and I doubt he's avoided broken down turbolifts. He must've known.

The walls somehow went straight through Adid, and they got closer and closer to James.

"Bye bye," Adid said, and he laughed.

Brrrr... now, I'm not claustrophobic. I think, I don't get the symptoms. But whenever I see people going through tight caves underground, anything deep under water, ducking under moving walls that are about to crush them, it creeps me out. So yeah, jury is still out that James is actually claustrophobic, or reacts like most would when they're about to be crushed. I'm nowhere near an expert on this, someone help me out

Jessie and Lena were heading towards the turbolift.

"Sounds more like revenge toward Craig not your mother," Jessie said.

What? I almost typed it earlier but deleted it, but shouldn't Lena be aware of this timeloop situation? Why is she talking so casually about Craig when she knows the ship's about to explode at any second.

still, yes Jessie, you're spot on

They both stopped at the turbolift. The doors didn't open.

"That's strange," Jessie muttered. She started fiddling with the panel at the side of the door. Lena started pulling the doors apart. Jessie noticed, so she stopped fiddling with the panel.

Ok Jess, this time make us believe that James is dead. Okay, one two three...

She and Jessie rushed inside. Jessie knelt down, and checked James' pulse.

"Oh god," Jessie stuttered. Lena turned her commbadge.

well, getting better?

James Dies Count: 2

The warp core breach happens as before, as well as the shrugging off the ship's tremors, all in its copy and pasted glory.

"Why on earth does that Adid keep extracting fear from that James... I mean..." Derna asked, and then she started daydreaming again. Juna smacked her in the back of the head.

Um. Wasn't the plan to assume Adid would do the same thing, unaware of the loop. Apart from him lucking into a different witch, why would he suddenly start doing things differently

"There's no time to find out. This time, we all stick together. He doesn't attack until one of us is alone," Tersa said.

GOOD PLAN FOR ONCE, maybe

"Maybe we like should get that James guy, like to find out like what's so special about like him," Juna said.

What, no boys in your witches club??

"I suppose so, but he gets attacked each timeloop. What's stopping him from getting attacked when he's on his way here?" Tersa asked. She smacked Derna to get her to snap out her daydream.

YEAH DERNA

And please, just tell him to go around a different way so he doesn't bump into Fear Guy early. He'll have time during the "kill a witch first" phase of Fear Guy's plan.

"Contact him, like and tell him to bring someone like with him," Juna said.

"If you don't stop saying like, I'm going to scream," Derna muttered.

Come on, you must be used to this by now

The Bridge:
"What the hell for?" James asked as he headed for the turbolift.

In: "We'll explain when you get here. Make sure somebody's with you."

Okay nm, this Fear Guy must kill the first witch super quick if James is about to go in the turbolift now. And why was Jessie and Lena on deck five during the last loop if that's the case? Sigh, this is why Coming of Time had a very detailed plot.

though, maybe Lena does know what's happening, that could be...

"Why, what's going on?" Lena asked, as she and Jessie headed for the turbolift too.

You do know that time chip still exists even with the not-Kiara reveal, right?? Precise Timings wasn't that long ago

"Oh well, at least this beats that appointment with the Doc," Jessie muttered.

HAHAHA, atleastyoutried

Not buying it though. Why was Lena going with her, and how long is this appointment, -30 seconds? Timeloops can be fun if you have a handle on when everything happens.

"Are you kidding? That make him into Popeye was a great idea," Lena moaned. The turbolift doors closed as she and Jessie got in.

ok that makes even less sense, in all manners of ways!

"I was wondering why I was getting deja vu when I was going to the turbolift," James muttered.

"A timeloop? That's so not original," Jessie said.

"Actually it's true," Lena muttered.

I, WHAT? I DIDN'T SEE YOU ON DECK 2 PROTECTING YOUR FRIEND, OR IN ENGINEERING TO KO THE FEAR GUY FROM OVERLOADING THE WARP CORE. FU

"Why didn't you tell anybody?" James asked.

"I told my mum each time, but she didn't believe me," Lena replied.

James: maybe you could've told me too

Lena: why, you always come back

"In the two timeloops we've had, James was attacked by Adid, he extracted his fear..." Tersa said.

"So, Adid scared him, I bet that wasn't too hard," Lena muttered.

OH LOOK, THE MUMMY'S ON AGAIN, LOOK IMHOTEP'S JUST WOKEN UP

Lena: 0_0

"Hey! I'm not as easily scared as I used to be," James said.

Well, yeah but you've been given extra phobias to balance that out

"So we reached the conclusion that Adid goes for witches, to get their powers," Derna said.

James: Okay lets be clear, my doing stuff off screen isn't magic. It's a joke, the cameraman is in on it

"Maybe Adid likes Slayers," Jessie said.

"Then why hasn't he tried scaring me?" Lena asked.

BECAUSE YOU'RE FEARLESS, or some s$$$

DEAD BODIES

Lena: *passes out*

Oh and Jessie it's; maybe Slayer strength can be taken too

"Were you alone?" Tersa asked.

"No," Lena replied.

"Then that's your reason. As far as we can tell, Adid waits until the victim is alone, then he attacks. If he or she is not alone for a while, he tries somebody else who's alone," Tersa said.

*prepares Annika Dies Count*

"Well I suppose I'm not easy to scare," Lena said.

"Oh look a dead body," Jessie said suddenly. Lena jumped a mile.

"Where?" she yelled. Jessie laughed.

"Sorry, just proving you wrong," she said.

"Don't ever do that, you'll probably give me a heart attack!" Lena snapped.

harhar

"We did tell you that he scares his victims to death, then he extracts their fear," Derna said.

Then... but if they're dead already, the fear's gone. I think you got it sorta backwards

"Does these like Slayers have powers or like something?" Juna asked.

"No, not really. Slayers are not really that special. It's just James and I, we're kinda the natural born ones. We're born with the strength to fight in the Games," Lena replied.

oh my, it's not Natural Slayers yet which is bad on its own, it's natural born ones. LAME

"Strength? Maybe that's what Adid gets from attacking James," Tersa said.

Lena laughed. "That sounds strange."

"What's that suppose to mean?" James asked.

*shudder* seriously, this is getting quite annoying

May I show you Saturday Night again, Lena, and see if you can still find that funny. Psst, you're Morgan in that one.

"But why does Adid extract fear? I mean he gets powers off one witch, and strength of a natural born Slayer, I don't get it," Jessie asked.

maybe it doesn't matter what kind. He might be able to do it with two witches, or two Slayers. It's likely a power level thing he has to reach before he can do it. it's not that confusing at all

"He doesn't attack people in a group, maybe if we lure him to one of us, and the others can just beam in when he arrives," Jessie said.

Now see, Jessie, now you're making sense. And fyi, I find it a little funny that the Fear sucker is a coward himself.

"When Adid attacked me, he used fire to scare me. Fire cannot come out of thin air. If he had the powers to do it, he wouldn't really need our powers. My guess is, that he makes us hallucinate," Tersa said.

soooooo, Jessie's plan will still work. He can't make you all hallucinate different things at once

"Adid extracts fear, right? If we know that what is happening isn't real, it'll help us be brave, and save us," James said.

yeah, tell that to Derna and her hilarious Big Macs trying to eat her hallucination in round 1

"You're out of that plan," Lena muttered.

SHUT UP LENA

I'd like to think this is either one of or both of these reasons; she's mad at him, and she's worried about James stealing her thunder. I'm the special one, wah.

Though that's too clever for this series right now. James being classed as the same as Lena is just too hilarious for past me to keep a straight face over.

"Hang on, maybe the cutie is getting onto something here. Maybe courage hurts Adid. Maybe that's why he induces fear on us," Derna replied.

Again. Derna wasn't afraid and confident he couldn't hurt her, Tersa thought she was phobia less. James wasn't worried the second time as he didn't know the walls closing in would happen or scare him.

"He can only extract powers and strength from the dead," Tersa muttered.

"If you ask me, he's more like one of those fear demons," Lena said.

Hey guys, is this the first mention of a demon?

If so, jesus christ Lena, you've been keeping them quiet, haven't you? stop it!

"That's what I thought earlier. But I knew that the fear demons don't extract the fear from the victims. They just use their skills to eliminate witches," Derna said.

hmmmmmmmmm, well I'm intruiged

"So we just have to act brave, that's going to be quite hard," Jessie said.

"You don't have to, unless you're a witch or a Slayer," Lena said.

seems like good advice anyway. foreshadowing

In: "Anderson to Janeway, can I see you in the Mess Hall?"

"Yeah, I'm on my way," Lena said. She tapped her commbadge. "I can be brave when I want to. Everytime I see dead bodies, I usually get used to it," Lena said.

OF COURSE YOU DO, MARY

"I don't think you should go," Jessie said.

"All right, what if two of you take me there to meet Craig," Lena said.

At some point in the series the crew will realise that listening to James and Jessie they'll likely avoid 90% of the problems they run into. No one takes them seriously, except this one time, wow!

Lena, Juna and Jessie stepped off the turbolift, and they walked into the Mess Hall. It looked normal; Neelix was cooking some disgusting food, and crewmembers were chatting away at their tables.

"See, nothing to worry about," Lena said as she walked over to Craig.

Juna and Jessie slowly made their way out.

Suddenly, everybody disappeared, excluding Lena and Craig. Craig changed into Adid.

"You're not really that smart, are you?" Adid said questioningly.

Yeah um, scratch "and Jessie" earlier from my comment above. She's not too clever either

"Oh come on, you don't scare me. I don't get scared when I see dead bodies, I just get the shivers that's all. So there's no point in trying," Lena said.

Question we may find out, or probably not cos this is Amazing Lena and not Dumbass Pretender James, if Lena dies during one of the loops, will she still remember the one she died in?

Jessie and Juna walked in. Leve was there, she was holding a phaser rifle, and she quickly aimed it at them.

seriously, I did ask "who?" Then I remembered Adid did have somebody else on his ship. sigh.

"We know about the timeloop. This time, it won't work," she said.

"Like why's that?" Juna asked.

"All Adid needs is two Slayers, and two witches, and he'll have the power to stop it," Leve said.

Well schucks, maybe they do need specific kinds of power to do things. FINE

Adid walked in, right on cue. "Make that one Slayer," he said.

"Lena, how did you..." Jessie said.

I'm surprised no one turned to check if James was still okay. and that he is still okay

"We'll like see about that," Juna said. She waved her hands in front of her, Adid, Leve and James, froze on the spot. Jessie looked confused.

"What on earth happened?" she asked.

oh, so Adid and Leve aren't witches like I previously thought/remembered. But WAITAMINUTE Jessie's not frozen either. Wouldn't that mean she should remember the loop too (is that why she wasn't fussed about James?). I'm sure she just missed or something... I'm probably wrong again.

Juna stole the rifle off Leve, and aimed it at her and Adid. Derna and Tersa stood up.

"We'll worry about that later," Tersa said.

Suddenly everything unfroze.

They weren't standing? I'm usually okay with keeping track of these things

Adid waved his hand in front of him. Fire appeared around Tersa, but no one else saw it. He then waved his hand in front of Derna.

"My voice, what happened to my voice, it's gone," Derna said in a panicky tone.

haha, so he can do multiple hallucinations at once. so what's with the having to deal with them solo?

"It's not real, it's just an hallucination," Tersa said to herself. She closed her eyes. "It's not real," she muttered. The fire around her disappeared. "It works."

James' idea works, who'd have thought

"Never mind," Adid said. He turned to Jessie. He waved his hand in front of her. Suddenly a swarm of bugs appeared in front of her. Nobody else saw them.

That's a weird spelling of rabbits

Juna fired the rifle at both of them, it reflected and it hit Juna. She fell unconscious.

Oops, I thought you needed two witches? One didn't work and the other's down, ohdear

Adid smiled evilly. "Give me your fear," he said to Jessie.

"Jess, whatever it is, it's not real," James said.

Jessie: Yeah it's okay, I think he got mixed up. These things have gotten old

*Watership Down starts playing on the nearby TV*

Jessie: 0_0

"Stop it, why are you doing this to her?" James asked.

good question

for the luls?

Jessie: um, which one of us doesn't like blood cos it's getting a bit flooded in here

James: *checks* just you today, we've both kinda nicked the bug one from Tom so...

Jessie: Oh.... *passes out*

"I need all the witch power I can get," Adid said.

"She's not a witch," James said.

"Shows what you know," Leve said, and she laughed.

Whuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut?

B'Elanna warned us all the way back in Season One, Episode Five. Nobody listened, nobody!!!

"I just need one more Slayer after this. I know now what your real fear is," Adid said.

Did I miss the no talking girl passing out? Has Jessie died for that matter? Nah, dumb question Marill. rip Adid. Garbage gif's everywhere if that were true.

Wait, re-reading. "I know now what your real fear is." 0_0

He changed into James' dad.

"Oh my god," James muttered.

Wow, now that, insinuating that his greatest fear is his dad is just... wow, I dig it.

"That one doesn't look like an hallucination," Tersa muttered.

um excuse me, they can see Peter?? you were doing so okay Cause

Meanwhile Jessie closed her eyes, and tried to ignore the bugs. They disappeared eventually.

Also meanwhile, the Watership Down rabbits are murdering each other. Jessie passes out anyway from rabbit and blood overload.

"Just remember, he isn't the real version of whoever it is," Tersa said.

"Okay," James said in a small voice.

aaaaw

bless

Adid looked towards Jessie, and then at Tersa.

"Witches don't learn," he muttered. He waved his hands in front of them. Fire reappeared around them, only this time the flames were seen by everyone, and they could all feel the heat from them. Tersa got too close to a flame, and she burnt her arm. The flames got closer to her. She screamed and then she collapsed.

Whaaaaa HOLY EPIC EXTREMELY EARLY FORESHADOWING, BATMAN

S3 and mainly 5 spoilers: I thought Jessie's fear of fire wasn't thought of and then hinted at until Season Three. Holy mother of... WINNING

That wasn't just for Tersa's benefit, surely.

My only problem with this is the sudden ability to make the hallucinations real to everyone.

.........

oh. I just thought of the reason why. Carrying on for the time being, hoping if I'm right it'll be thrown in our faces

If anyone's keeping count. Two witches and a Slayer are down. One Slayer to go, and James is face to face with his greatest weakness.

Leve picked up Juna's rifle as Adid made the flames go away. Leve aimed the rifle at Jessie.

"Looks like we won't be needing you, sweetie," she said. Adid stopped her.

Unless some numpty triggers his other great weakness, the one that causes garbage all over to be tossed and the off screen counter to wonder if it'll get a turn this time. Good job Adid

"Wait, we may need her," he said and he turned to James. "If you're a real man, you'll stop Leve from hurting her," Adid said. Leve grinned like a Cheshire cat.

ohnm, he's a suicidal idiot too

though in character, I give him that

"Kill, or vaporise?" she asked Adid.

"Why don't we let my son decide," Adid said.

"James, he's not really your dad," Jessie said.

"That's for him to decide," Adid said.

Yeah this scene, I hope it is how I remember it

James was too scared to move, Adid just laughed at him.

"What a wuss, too scared to face his own dad," he said.

Just A Little Bit More: 1

"You're not his dad, you pea brain!" Jessie yelled.

oh snap?

"All right, the girl dying is another fear of his, isn't that right?" Adid said, and he smiled evilly.

um, do you really poke at that suicidal thread?

Leve got ready to fire. Suddenly Adid was pushed into Leve, and they lost their balance.

Jessie managed to get the rifle of Leve.

it's written like one, but I'm not actually sure who did that. Still counting it

James Badasses Off Screen For Our Sins: 1

if I'm right, the scene did go as I remembered it. A nice foreshadowy character moment for James, his dad scares him but Jessie's more important to him.

"That rifle can't beat us, you saw what happened to Juna," Leve said.

"We know what can, right Jess?" James asked.

"Sure do," Jessie replied.

???

we do?

OMG he's going to make the cameraman turn around. good thing the off screen count is still in my computer's clipboard

"You're no man, I've seen braver babies," Adid said, he got a cane out of nowhere.

a what? Are we sure this isn't actually Peter?

"If you're going to impersonate my dad, at least do it right. He didn't use canes," James said.

Adid growled slightly, he changed back into his usual self.

Okay it was working until the two f$$$ ups, come on, why give up so quickly

It's still time to showcase one last fear or two. I think that's what James has left

"We'll be back, don't expect to see the last of us," Adid said. He and Leve disappeared.

ER...........

what just happened?

so the key to defeating them was... WHAT?

Oh okay, so the villains were defeated because past me had ran out of time. There is no other explanation

"I'm sorry Juna, I can't revive them," the Doctor said.

"Why not, you like saved Lena," Juna asked.

"She's a main character. We have the cure known as the reset button for her," the Doctor replied.

Oh that's killed all tension the series had, which wasn't much. No MC's can die. James can, but he doesn't need the reset button to come back.

Captains Log Supplemental - We made contact with the Borg Resistance ship, and we informed them of what happened. We have continued on our journey. The two fear demons, we hope, we will never see them again, they really were Charmed-cheesy bad villains.

they also can be defeated by doing nothing

LAME

and I still dunno what destroyed the colony. Sorry guys, have your money back

Lena was showing them her right arm.

"Hey, that's like so cool," Juna said.

"Yeah, don't tell my mum I got a tattoo, she'll go nuts," Lena said.

No actual resolution because I'm out of time, but I have time for Lena to continue mimicking her so called actress.

IT'S NOT A REAL ONE LENA

"A tattoo! What were you thinking!" Kathryn yelled.

"Er... what a nice tattoo," Lena replied.

snicker

"So why can dad have a tattoo, and not me?" Lena asked.

"That is a tribal tattoo!" Kathryn yelled.

yeah um, Lena's naive and probably doesn't know what that means... not intentionally racist/bigot... which one is it!?

"Excuses, excuses. As soon as this one goes off, I'm getting a new one. I'm seventeen, so you don't have any control over me," Lena said.

HA, you did disown her earlier for the same reasons Janeway. inyourface

"Fine, if that's the case, you're not getting anymore replicator rations off me anymore. Since you're not part of my control anymore, then I don't give you rations," Kathryn said and she stormed out.

"I'll just pinch them off Kiara, I always do that," Lena said.

OUCH, a two-fer

Lena (Child)Abuses Her Power: 1

J/C are the worst (grand)parents ever: 2

Janeway calls parenting her daughter "control", then threatens to starve her on a ship she runs, and only she or the dad can assign jobs, the only way to get food.

Lena meanwhile avoids this by stealing food from her own daughter.

Jesus, this s$$$'s dark! The Janeway family are toxic as hell

"But shouldn't you be giving her rations?" Lilly asked.

"Don't be stupid," Lena muttered.

um, J/C did say they were keeping custody of Kiara. Still though, ouch

"It is a nice tattoo," Emma said.

"Yeah," everyone said in unison.

THE END APPARENTLY

before we move onto the stupid questions, the scene opened like this

Lena, Jessie, James, Craig, Triah, Lilly, Emma & Juna were sitting...

Jessie, James, and Craig say and do nothing through this whole scene. Why are they there? And why is Juna suddenly part of the gang?

Will we see Adid & Leve again?

Will Juna ever stop saying like so much?

Not likely *crickets chirp* SHUT UP THAT'S FUNNY

Will we actually see Juna again?

Well someone has to die in Annika's place until she's let out. Just throwing that out there.

If James' dad didn't use canes to beat him, what did he use?

UM WTF

What kind of tattoo does Lena actually have?

In the olden days I'd show you, but I deleted all the ones I've found. Too bad. It's tacky and big, and fake.

What was Die oh Die like?

I imagine it sounded like pain and regret, and so much bitterness

Find out the answers to maybe some of these questions next time on Fifth Voyager.

Maybe not next time, but I count two questions that do get answered. Oh wait three, sorta... that was a dark question, good lord.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Counter Results:

Muttered Count: 50 (1079)

Sexist Crap Count: 1 (52) Begrudingly giving one for that implants joke

Jessie's Sin Points: earned 2 for the lack of reaction to James dying twice, lost 0 (18)

Lena the Sue Count: 0 (31) Should've been minus for that off screen death but only the Sins counter works like that

Lena (Child)Abuses Her Power: 1 (5)

Annika Dies Count: 0 (9)

James Dies Count: 2 (5)

James Kill Count: 0 (2)

James Badasses Off Screen For Our Sins: 1 (16)

Marill's Playing With Her Dolls Again: 0 (49)

Just A Little Bit More: 1 (32)

J/C are the worst (grand)parents ever: 2 (23)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Score:

Negatives:

1) Episode tried to be funny with Annika mentioning her sisters and introducing them, only to later reveal it like it's a huge twist. Did I really think people would be shocked, or laugh here? I did neither so.

2) 2/3 of the sisters are pretty much identical with the same quirks, only a different fear to each other. No wonder Juna is the one that survives. They even have that stupid Brock falls in love joke shared between them.

3) Chakotay's starting to give a damn about Lena, but Janeway's being remarkably cold about her. Oh she's 17, she should be in her own place with her own (more) kids by now.

4) Pointless Z5 intermission

5) Why was the colony the Hansen sisters were at destroyed? It gets forgotten about.

6) The (3/4) Charmed Sisters

7) Why does the ship shake before the first loop? I figured it shaking was because the loop had restarted, but that first time nothing had happened yet

8) Derna knows what's going to happen and walks into the trap anyway

9) Add another James phobia to the list. I'm okay with possible claustrophobia, a later episode will explain that anyway, but now he's scared of bugs? Since Sbaracs are used, I'd say that's survival instinct more than anything. Still that was Tom's phobia.

10) Jessie does not seem that bothered about James dying, both times. I make jokes about it, but she still reacts every other time. So unrealistic.

11) Why did the villain want to destroy Voyager? He's also powerful enough to transport onboard and not be detected immediately, make people hallucinate and drain their corpses of power... but he needs a witch and Slayer to overload the core? I don't get it.

12) The three witches remember the previous loops. Lena does too because of the chip (we're to assume Tani as well). The villains don't but there's another incident later that proves they're not witches themselves. In that same incident Jessie's not affected, and she's called a witch for it. So, how come Jessie can't remember the previous loops? Witch or not, she's proved to be invulnerable to the Charmed sisters spells.

13) Lena knows Voyager's going to be destroyed. She warns her mum, who doesn't believe her. Then she proceeds to do... nothing? I'm sure making the Doc into Popeye will solve everything!

14) The timing is off, and in a timeloop episode that's a big no no. See Coming of Time for how it's done.

15) The overall plan counted on the assumption that Fear Alien doesn't like attacking his victims when they're in groups, but the whole last encounter is quite busy. On that same note, at some point they don't have a weapon but the hallucinations, none of the good guys tries to do anything to them. They just stand around, so even that plan is for nothing.

16) What was the point in Leve? She adds nothing to this story but an extra head to target.

17) Jessie also fears the Sbaracs bugs. She had a perfectly good subsitute that'd make the episode different, and a little funny with the bunnies hopping about.

18)

James/Jessie: We know what'll hurt the bad guys, right? YEP, lets do this.

The bad guys: oh crud, I'll see you next time gadget, we're blasting off again.

James/Jessie: UM, wtf???

These sudden quickly fixed endings are getting more annoying as the series progresses, that's true, but this one doesn't even try to be lazy. It just ends. My god.

You could argue that the villain thinks he can't scare James anymore, so he can't undo the timeloop. But there is still two witches left, one of which is unconscious and hasn't been fear tested yet. You can't argue your way out of this, it's stupid. He gives up because I said so. Admit it past me, you didn't know how to resolve this.

19) And on that matter, the villain isn't defeated, there isn't another loop. Nothing is undone, the two sisters remain dead permanently. How come Lena still has any kind of power after she's treated? Does this mean there's a guy out there that has the power of two witches and a Slayer, and we're just supposed to ignore that???

20) All of this because I wanted Lena to show off her bitching new tattoo. *eye rolls for five minutes*

Sub-total: 20

Positives:

1) James' "I thought Craig was your friend" smackdown to Lena. Telling it like it is

2) The brief Hansen family reunion with Annika being paranoid that her sisters are trying to steal her spotlight, I thought it was funny

3) I was worried that the method of killing the victims was a bit farfetched. It has its problems (I think the actual fear and power draining should be what does the kill, not be done after they're already dead) but a perfectly healthy person keeling over by a heartattack induced by fear. Sure, I've seen a few shows do this.

4) I like that James temporarily avoids dying because he sensed it had happened before. Meanwhile Lena who does remember everything does sod all

5) It seemed like I was complaining, but I actually like Lena acting like she's a big shot and better than James. It is part of her arc after all. She is still a kid, a 17 year old teenager. After her recent reveal she's eager to prove herself. She dies trying too, so it does look like I made her act like that for an actual plot & character arc related reason. huzzah

6) The Jessie's a witch reveal. It's been foreshadowed for soo sooo long. Love it.

7) I dunno if this should be in positives, as nothing in the episode says it. Still, when this all kicks off the badguy can only attack his targets when they're alone. Later after taking Lena's power, he levels up and is able to take on multiple foes and fears at once. AND THEN once one of the witches goes down, then another, he's able to make the hallucinations real for everyone to see. It's either a funky coincidence, or the intention was to show him powering up from his draining.

8) James' greatest fear, or should I say it's implied that the source of most of his fears all stems from his abusive father. Yeah the implication counts on you reading this a second time after reading later ones, but still. Thumbs up.

9) Spoilers; foreshadowing of Jessie's fire fear. nice.

10) James only counters his fear because Jessie's in trouble. At least it seems that way, even in the off screen style it's not fully clear if it were him. The way he acts afterwards kinda hints to it.

Sub-total: 10

Marill's Rating: 33%

Rankings So Far:

#01 Resistance: 53%
#02 Disconnected: 40%
#03 Kiss of Death: 38%
#04 Interactions: 37%
#05 The Resurrection: 36%
#06 True Q: 35%
#07 Cause & Effect: 33%
#08 The Curse of Voyager: 32%
#09 Saturday Night & Precise Timings: 31%
#10 Games Resistance: 29%
#11 Thrown Key Part 2: 23%
#12 F9: Control Failure: 21%
#13 Halloween: 15%
#14 Dimension Jump: 14%
#15 The Slayers: 12%
#16 The Love Spell: 10%

Oh well, I expected because of the pattern this one would be a dud, but it's of the same quality as Curse. YWF could go either way. Join me next time for wrestlers, Annika returning and James getting to up his kill count at long last in the worst possible way. OMGSPOILERS